The Disney College Program offers magical opportunities for students to receive hands-on experience while changing visitor’s lives. Combining enchantment and career skills, the program allows students to work their way up while learning about the park and being a part of the magic.

Olivia Deaver is an elementary education major at ETSU. In the spring of 2023, Deaver took the semester off due to a newfound opportunity at Epcot thanks to the Disney College Program. Now on her path to success in Orlando, Florida, she works as a trainer at Connection Eatery, a restaurant within Disney. Deaver was in the second wave of selections in the spring of 2023 along with two other students. Her group was the smallest among the other accepted schools.

Photo of Olivia Deaver and college program friends at Disney. (Contributed/officialdisneyprograms Instagram)

“I was like ‘If I get it, that is my path, I’m supposed to go there,’” Deaver said on applying for the program. “If I don’t, I’ll go back to education.”

For Deaver, hands-on experience wasn’t the only takeaway the program offered her. She had applied for an entertainment position at first but ended up being recruited as a model for the program’s website. Little moments made her stay special; one being asked to dance by a visitor’s child as she was tending tables at the eatery. The little boy ended up giving her a pressed penny as a gift in return.

“Mickey Mouse ran down the aisle after we got our name tags,” Deaver said on her first impression of the program. “And it was like, ‘we are the magic.’”

Paving a future path with Disney’s support, Deaver hopes to get an internship with the Hospitality Leadership Program where she will have the opportunity to be an assistant leader at a Disney location.

Deaver also spoke on the connections and memorable friendships she made while at the program. Traveling from Johnson City to Florida, she mentioned she kept to herself in the beginning, but the program assisted her in building a bond with her Disney peers.

“Everyone here is away from home and you make your own family down here,” Deaver said.

Once Deaver’s stay in the program had ended, she extended her trip, stating that her journey there was not done. To learn more about the Disney College Program, visit https://jobs.disneycareers.com/disney-programs.